228 results match your criteria: "BioISI: Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute[Affiliation]"

Network of GRAS transcription factors in plant development, fruit ripening and stress responses.

Hortic Res

December 2023

BioISI-Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.

The plant-specific family of GRAS transcription factors has been wide implicated in the regulation of transcriptional reprogramming associated with a diversity of biological functions ranging from plant development processes to stress responses. Functional analyses of GRAS transcription factors supported by o structural and comparative analyses are emerging and clarifying the regulatory networks associated with their biological roles. In this review, a detailed analysis of GRAS proteins' structure and biochemical features as revealed by recent discoveries indicated how these characteristics may impact subcellular location, molecular mechanisms, and function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glioblastoma (GBM) treatment is extremely challenging due to the high complexity of the tumor. It is one of the tumors in which a subpopulation of highly resistant glioma initiating cells (GICs) has been clearly identified. Thus, understanding the differences between GICs and tumor bulk cells is therefore essential to move to less conventional but more efficient approaches.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report the first whole-genome sequences of Dengue Virus type I genotypes I and V from Uruguay, including the first cases ever reported in the country. Through timely genomic analysis, identification of these genotypes was possible, aiding in timely public health responses and intervention strategies to mitigate the impact of dengue outbreaks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

High-Throughput Microscopy Characterization of Rare Variants.

JACC Basic Transl Sci

August 2023

Unidade de Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Grupo de Investigação Cardiovascular, Departamento de Promoção da Saúde e Prevenção de Doenças Não Transmissíveis, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is the most common inherited life-threatening disorder of lipid metabolism. Early diagnosis and treatment are the key to reduce the cumulative life-long cardiovascular burden of patients with FH. The high number of variants described as variants of unknown significance is the largest obstacle to achieve a definitive FH diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers utilized phylogenetic and epidemiological models to map YFV transmission patterns over different epidemic seasons and identified areas of high infection risk linked to low vaccination rates in major urban centers.
  • * By analyzing the genomic data, the study revealed three distinct YFV lineages and demonstrated the connectivity between the endemic North and the extra-Amazonian region, suggesting that genomics combined with eco-epidemiology can enhance understanding and strategies for controlling the virus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Uruguay had its first Chikungunya virus outbreak in 2023, which put a lot of stress on its healthcare system.
  • Researchers analyzed 30 new whole genomes through real-time genomic surveillance.
  • The study aimed to provide insights into how the virus spread locally and the environmental factors contributing to its emergence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Breast cancer (BC) brain metastases (BCBM) is a severe condition frequently occurring in the triple-negative subtype. The study of BCBM pathogenesis and treatment has been hampered by the difficulty in establishing a reliable animal model that faithfully recapitulates the preferential formation of brain metastases. The injection of BC cells in the carotid artery of mice has been proposed but the procedure is challenging, with the metastatic pattern being scarcely characterized.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The increase in the life expectancy average has led to a growing elderly population, thus leading to a prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by a progressive degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia (SNpc). The marine environment has proven to be a source of unique and diverse chemical structures with great therapeutic potential to be used in the treatment of several pathologies, including neurodegenerative impairments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a devastating BC subtype. Its aggressiveness, allied to the lack of well-defined molecular targets, usually culminates in the appearance of metastases that account for poor prognosis, particularly when they develop in the brain. Nevertheless, TNBC has been associated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) overexpression, leading to downstream phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling activation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Effects of sequence-dependent non-native interactions in equilibrium and kinetic folding properties of knotted proteins.

J Chem Phys

August 2023

Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Ed. C8, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Lisboa, Portugal.

Determining the role of non-native interactions in folding dynamics, kinetics, and mechanisms is a classic problem in protein folding. More recently, this question has witnessed a renewed interest in light of the hypothesis that knotted proteins require the assistance of non-native interactions to fold efficiently. Here, we conduct extensive equilibrium and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of a simple off-lattice C-alpha model to explore the role of non-native interactions in the thermodynamics and kinetics of three proteins embedding a trefoil knot in their native structure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Microbiologically influenced corrosion-more than just microorganisms.

FEMS Microbiol Rev

September 2023

Bioengineering Research Group, Swinburne University of Technology, 3122, Melbourne, Australia.

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is a phenomenon of increasing concern that affects various materials and sectors of society. MIC describes the effects, often negative, that a material can experience due to the presence of microorganisms. Unfortunately, although several research groups and industrial actors worldwide have already addressed MIC, discussions are fragmented, while information sharing and willingness to reach out to other disciplines are limited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Artemisinin is a secondary metabolite well-known for its use in the treatment of malaria. It also displays other antimicrobial activities which further increase its interest. At present, Artemisia annua is the sole commercial source of the substance, and its production is limited, leading to a global deficit in supply.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Non-epileptic seizures are identified as a common epileptogenic trigger. Early metaplasticity following seizures may contribute to epileptogenesis by abnormally altering synaptic strength and homeostatic plasticity. We now studied how epileptiform activity (EA) triggers early changes in CA1 long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by theta-burst stimulation (TBS) in rat hippocampal slices and the involvement of lipid rafts in these early metaplasticity events.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Health promotion and disease prevention programme registries (HPPRs), also called 'best practice portals', serve as entry points and practical repositories that provide decision-makers with easy access to (evidence-based) practices. However, there is limited knowledge of differences or overlaps of howe current national HPPRs in Europe function, the context and circumstances in which these HPPRs were developed, and the mechanisms utilised by each HPPR for the assessment, classification and quality improvement of the included practices. This study prepared an overview of different approaches in several national HPPRs and the EU Best Practice Portal (EU BPP) as well as identified commonalities and differences among the core characteristics of the HPPRs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Improving Salicornia ramosissima photochemical and biochemical resilience to extreme heatwaves through rhizosphere engineering with Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria.

Plant Physiol Biochem

June 2023

MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ARNET - Aquatic Research Network Associated Laboratory, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal.

The anticipated rise in the length, frequency, and intensity of heatwaves (HW) in the Mediterranean region poses a danger to the crops, as these brief but high-intensity thermal stress events halt plant productivity. This arises the need to develop new eco-friendly sustainable strategies to overcome food demand. Halophytes such as Salicornia ramosissima appear as cash crop candidates, alongside with new biofertilization approaches using Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a rare, treatment-resistant disorder characterized by early-onset atherosclerotic and aortic valvular cardiovascular disease if left untreated. Contemporary information on HoFH in the United States is lacking, and the extent of underdiagnosis and undertreatment is uncertain. Methods and Results Data were analyzed from 67 children and adults with clinically diagnosed HoFH from the CASCADE (Cascade Screening for Awareness and Detection) FH Registry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Natural Compounds: Co-Delivery Strategies with Chemotherapeutic Agents or Nucleic Acids Using Lipid-Based Nanocarriers.

Pharmaceutics

April 2023

CF-UM-UP-Centro de Física das Universidades do Minho e Porto, Departamento de Física da Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.

Article Synopsis
  • Cancer is projected to cause more deaths in the coming decades despite advances in treatment, which face issues like lack of selectivity and multidrug resistance.
  • Current research is exploring combined therapy using natural compounds alongside traditional chemotherapeutics or nucleic acids to enhance treatment effectiveness.
  • The review highlights how lipid-based nanocarriers can improve the delivery of these agents, emphasizing their potential to reduce resistance and toxicity while addressing challenges for clinical application in cancer treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Amid climate change, heatwave events are expected to increase in frequency and severity. As a result, yield losses in viticulture due to heatwave stress have increased over the years. As one of the most important crops in the world, an eco-friendly stress mitigation strategy is greatly needed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A convenient regioselective synthesis of allyl- and vinylsilyl alcohols, from a common precursor, was described, by selecting the appropriate reaction conditions. Allyl- and vinylsilyl alcohols were tested in silyl-Prins cyclizations for the preparation of disubstituted oxygenated heterocycles in a one-pot sequential reaction. The methodology was sensitive to the structure of the starting alkenylsilyl alcohol and reaction conditions, with competitive pathways observed (particularly for allylsilyl alcohols), such as Peterson elimination and oxonia-Cope reactions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most of the 2,100 CFTR gene variants reported to date are still unknown in terms of their disease liability in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and their molecular and cellular mechanism that leads to CFTR dysfunction. Since some rare variants may respond to currently approved modulators, characterizing their defect and response to these drugs is essential for effective treatment of people with CF (pwCF) not eligible for the current treatment. Here, we assessed how the rare variant, p.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this work, we studied the combined effect of increased temperature and atmospheric CO, salt and drought stress, and inoculation with plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the growth and some nutritional parameters of the edible halophyte . We found that the increase in temperature and atmospheric CO, combined with salt and drought stresses, led to important changes in fatty acids (FA), phenols, and oxalate contents, which are compounds of great importance for human health. Our results suggest that the lipid profile will change in a future climate change scenario, and that levels of oxalate and phenolic compounds may change in response to salt and drought stress.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In Vivo Effect of a Nisin-Biogel on the Antimicrobial and Virulence Signatures of Canine Oral .

Antibiotics (Basel)

February 2023

CIISA-Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Av. da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal.

Periodontal disease is a relevant oral disease in dogs and nisin-biogel has been previously proposed to be used in its control. , as inhabitants of the oral cavity with a high genetic versatility, are a reliable bacterial model for antimicrobial studies. Our goal was to evaluate the in vivo influence of the long-term dental application of the nisin-biogel on the virulence and antimicrobial signatures of canine oral .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hanseniaspora guilliermondii is a well-recognized producer of acetate esters associated with fruity and floral aromas. The molecular mechanisms underneath this production or the environmental factors modulating it remain unknown. Herein, we found that, unlike Saccharomyces cerevisiae, H.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dynamic Regulation of Grapevine's microRNAs in Response to Mycorrhizal Symbiosis and High Temperature.

Plants (Basel)

February 2023

LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food Research Center, Associate Laboratory TERRA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs that play crucial roles in plant development and stress responses and can regulate plant interactions with beneficial soil microorganisms such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). To determine if root inoculation with distinct AMF species affected miRNA expression in grapevines subjected to high temperatures, RNA-seq was conducted in leaves of grapevines inoculated with either or and exposed to a high-temperature treatment (HTT) of 40 °C for 4 h per day for one week. Our results showed that mycorrhizal inoculation resulted in a better plant physiological response to HTT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

pH-Responsive Hybrid Nanoassemblies for Cancer Treatment: Formulation Development, Optimization, and In Vitro Therapeutic Performance.

Pharmaceutics

January 2023

CF-UM-UP-Centro de Física das Universidades do Minho e Porto, Departamento de Física, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.

Current needs for increased drug delivery carrier efficacy and specificity in cancer necessitate the adoption of intelligent materials that respond to environmental stimuli. Therefore, we developed and optimized pH-triggered drug delivery nanoassemblies that exhibit an increased release of doxorubicin (DOX) in acidic conditions typical of cancer tissues and endosomal vesicles (pH 5.5) while exhibiting significantly lower release under normal physiological conditions (pH 7.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF